"The key would be to make the cards available only to members of print news-gathering organisations or magazines who have signed up to the new body and its code...

This obviously self-serving recommendation would effectively take out much of the Mail's competition:

"There would... be universal agreement that briefings and press conferences by government bodies, local authorities and the police, access to sporting, royal and celebrity events, material from the BBC and ITV, and information from medical and scientific bodies would only, only be given to accredited journalists."

But the moment many people were waiting for was when discussion moved to the Mail's controversial stable of columnists and Dacre was asked about the backlash against Jan Moir's now infamous Stephen Gately article and the huge number of complaints received:

"You keep using the phrase "a lot of people" complained about this. You realise that these are all online complaints and this is an example of how tweetering can create a firestorm within hours. A well-known celebrity, who admitted he hadn't read the article, said it was unpleasant. It was then tweeted to other people who retweeted and we had a viral storm. Most of those people conceded they hadn't read the piece. That's where the 25,000 comes from..."

Dacre's entirely unsupported claim that "most of those people conceded they hadn't read the piece" was no less remarkable than his allusion to a modus operandi the Mail has made its own in recent years. After all, in 2008, more than 38,000 people complained about Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand's offensive phone call to Andrew Sachs but only once the Mail had successfully whipped up a storm more than a week after it was initially broadcast.

Dacre went on to claim:

"I'd die in a ditch to defend a columnist to have her views, and I can tell this Inquiry there isn't a homophobic bone in Jan Moir's body."

But when pressed further on Moir's article, Dacre did admit:

"...the piece could have benefited from judicious subbing."

And speaking of massive understatement, when suggested he might not be keen to return for further inquisition, Dacre rounded off a very awkward, uncomfortable performance with the words: